Of all history's major figures there are few names better known than that of Adolf Hitler, and sadly, for mankind, for all the wrong reasons. Tracking the rise and fall of Adolf Hitler politically and then militarily, thr... more &raquoough the first half of the 20th C&laquo less

Movie Reviews

Good Effort; Not a Duplicate

James T. Wheeler | TUCSON, AZ United States | 11/26/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"For those concerned about duplicating programs you might already have, be assured: this should not be a problem with "The Hitler Collection." Although two of the three titles in this set are similar to existing ones, these three pieces are different programs. Moreover, thay all bear a production date of 2008. One of these, "The Rise and Fall of Adolph Hitler," may present information we've seen before but it is NOT the same as the 1962 Oscar winning documentary, narrated by Marlene Dietrich.

The second title, "Why Hitler Lost World War II," is also similar to a fine production from the mid-1980's, produced by David Hoffman, "How Hitler Lost the War." Again, we find nothing dramatically new in "Why Hitler Lost World War II," but it is also NOT a duplicate of David Hoffman's earlier work.

Finally, "The Hitler Conspiracies," is also different from anything I have in my library or have seen before. It is a useful lead-in to "Operation Valkyrie," a new DVD set of 2 disks. The latter is centered on a July 20, 1944 assassination attempt on Hitler by Col. Claus von Stauffenberg. I'll submit a review on that production soon, but am leaning toward a rating of four (4) stars.

As noted above, all three titles on this DVD show 2008, as a production date. Nevertheless, they mostly have the look and feel of black-and-white films and reenactments from an earlier era. Main exceptions come at the beginning and end where color footage appears, accompanied by recent narrative. Running time for all three works comes to 2 hours and 48 minutes so this DVD can be called a bargain. But there are not separate chapters, by program, that one can refer to back and forth. Each of the three shows can be accessed separately, but to find a segment from each requires a bit of searching. Frankly, this seems a little cheap to me.

Narrator for all three pieces is the director, Liam Dale. He does a creditable job, all right, but has nowhere near the dulcet voice of Norman Rose who does the Hoffman work noted above. Nor does Mr. Dale come close to the dramatic sound of Brian Cox, who narrated the recent DVD, "Hitler in Colour," or to Sir Laurence Olivier, who narrated most of the outstanding documentary series, "World at War."

To sum up, I'd give this DVD 3 stars out of five since it is done pretty well. But it is not up to the standard of "Hitler in Colour," especially at its currentbargain price--under $10.00. "Hitler in Colour" is a must for anyone interested in Nazi Germany and World War II. That DVD rates five (5) stars, in my view.

--Jim Wheeler, Tucson, Arizona"

Three good Black and White features

khang fré y | California, USA | 07/18/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a good collection of three Black and White featurets about the imfamous Uncle Adolf."